I had the good fortune to attend the kick off for 2009 of Wordplay, the monthly gig hosted by Geoff Lemon which has now moved to the more spacious surrounds of the Dan O’Connell in Carlton. Given recent sad events it was also turned into a fundraiser for a poet who had suffered and lost in the recent bushfires.

We were entertained by the spiritual and thoughtful Simon Cox, Joelistics (musician and rap artist with TZU) got us moving, we were blown away by the picturesque story telling of Eleanor Jackson and beguiled at the end by the work of Kevin Brophy.

Go check out their website, listen to the mp3s of previous gigs, download a copy of the Wordplay mag that they’ve just launched. It’s all worth your time.

I was delighted to discover that the Indiefeed Performance Poetry podcast is interviewing and featuring work by three Melbourne poets currently in the US. Alicia Sometimes, Emily Zoe Baker and Sean Whelan have all just appeared on the list. If you don’t listen to Indiefeed, I highly recommend it to lovers of poetry. As a podcast it can be handled through programs like iTunes or you can download individual episodes from the Indiefeed website.

More about Alicia, Emily and Sean can be found by following their links here!

What: Passionate Tongues! Hosted by Michael Reynolds.
Who: Me! I will be headlining with Ozlem Baro. This is her first feature (I believe). I have heard her read at Spinning Room, I suspect this won’t be her last.Where: The Brunswick Hotel, 140 Sydney Rd, Brunswick (cnr. Weston Rd.)When: 8pm, Monday, 2nd FebruaryHow: (…much?) Entry is free, but we do encourage the sale of raffle tickets as the proceeds get split between the features for the evening. Besides, the raffle prizes are good!Why: Because I have new stuff! Because I have old stuff! Because Ozlem is really good! Because The Brunswick Hotel has bad album sleeves adorning their walls and good beer adorning their bar!

Reading: “Just Your Everyday Apocalypse” – Amelia Walker (which I got the last time I was at PT!!)Listening: “Apparitions” – Matthew Good Band

Another marvellous feature by Rosanne Bersten at the Spinning Room poetry gig last night. Her poems gave a preview of her upcoming California vignettes series and went through a series of works on people in her life. It also reminded me of how well she can switch between free and structured verse.

The night was also notable for the really rather impressive collection of new poets appearing in the open mic section. At least two new poets who I hope to see more of, one getting a callback.

For my part, I think I did OK, I’m more comfortable reading the revised version of Tomorrow’s Ghosts now, Ballard Days still feels a little unbalanced, though I’m not sure why. Either way, I think it needs a little more tweaking.

Quoting from The Age article here : “Sekou Sundiata, the Harlem-born poet, performer, artist, activist and educator who inspired audiences at last year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival, passed away in New York yesterday from heart failure. He was 58.”.

I discovered a site several years ago where you could download mp3s of amazing poets reading their own work. The site is no longer there, but the first person I discovered on it was Sekou Sundiata. Brilliant poet, teller of stories. Lyrical, passionate, his work was spiritual, regardless of actual content. His use of rhythm and cadence was gorgeous.

Then I discovered he’d released an album “Longstoryshort”. The album is one of my favorite albums, musical or otherwise. I was very lucky to catch “51st Dream State”, one of the few performances of any media that I’ve wept from. I wish I’d seen “blessing the boats” (read the article for the story behind that performance).